Born into a poor family in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, Claude Debussy showed an early aptitude for the piano and began lessons at age 7. By age 10 he was admitted to the Paris Conservatory. He was profoundly influenced by the Russian composers and Richard Wagner. He drew inspiration from impressionist art and also from Edgar Allen Poe's stories which were quite popular in France at the time. He is best known for his use of non-traditional scales. Debussy's most famous work is perhaps Claire de Lune which is the third movement of his piano suite, Suite Bergamasque. Click below to listen to the complete suite.

Debussy, Suite Bergamasque. Claudio Arrau, piano

Veritas Vignettes

One of Miss Andrews' student's shoelaces was hopelessly tied in a knot so he turn to another student for help...

Student A: Will you help me get out this Gordian knot?!"

Student B: Would you like me to cut it?"

Student A: Well, Alexander the Great would, but my mom wouldn't like it!"

Other Famous Eggs

Speaking of famous Russian eggs, the Romanov dynasty commissioned the creation of dozens of the most fantastically jeweled eggs. Sprinkled with diamonds, encrusted with solid gold, pearls, and other precious stones, these eggs were the prized Easter gifts of the Romanov matriarchs. Not only were they magnificent on the outside, each one opened to reveal a unique surprise inside. Of the 50 eggs made by the House of Faberge, only 43 survive.

Welcome to Veritas Classical Academy! Our mission is to develop the academic potential and personal character of each student through an academically rich educational experience.

Welcome to the Globe Theatre! Our students cordially invite you to enjoy an evening of Shakespearean wit and whimsy with select performances from Macbeth, The Tempest, Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, King Lear, and more. Your ticket also admits you to our Elizabethan Museum where you will see live displays of 16th century England and enjoy music and foods.

The 2015-16 school year seems in the distant future, but it is just around the corner.

Our class sizes are capped at 12 students per grade. If you'd like to secure your child's spot at Veritas or if you need more information to make a good decision, we highly recommend you attend an Open House. We have been enrolling students for 2015-16 since last fall. Space is limited so don't miss out!

Spring Friends

This week in Mrs. Gale's class the students welcomed Spring and began reading the beloved Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams, and Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss. Some of the virtues the students will learn from these masterpieces include honesty, integrity, courage, loyalty, and faithfulness.

The students then turned their newfound Spring friends into their own story characters by practicing their handwriting and phonics in their journal entries about rabbits and other favorite animals.

In Math they are continuing to work with coins and skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s, writing and recognizing numbers 99-101, learning how to identify a quart, gallon, and liter, estimating and measuring the capacity of a container in cups, and identifying fractional parts of a whole.

This week's art class with Mrs. Rosenlieb focused on Henry Rousseau, the French post-Impressionist painter whose most famous works depict jungle scenes even though he never left France or saw a jungle!

War of Jenkin's Ear

Among the most curious of names given to military conflicts, the War of Jenkin's Ear must be in the top ten. This war between Great Britain and Spain began in October 1739 as tensions escalated when both sides believed that the other was breaking the terms of their trade agreement. Spanish authorities began boarding British vessels, and in one such instance the Spanish Coast Guard cut off the ear of Captain Robert Jenkins in the West Indies. Jenkins preserved his ear in whiskey and presented it before the House of Commons. The story of his ear inflamed British sentiment and provided the impetus for the war.

Although no ears (or other body parts) were severed, the 3rd and 4th grade students used the occasion of this history lesson to conduct a scientific "preservation" experiment of their own. They are attempting to preserve chicken legs in a solution of alcohol, sugar water, salt water, and vinegar. Jenkins had preserved his ear for at least eight years before appearing in Parliament. We hope not to preserve these chicken legs for quite that long at Veritas!

The 3rd and 4th grade students have also been making their way through tsarist Russia for the last few weeks. This week in honor of the great empire, they made Ukrainian pysanky eggs.

The beautifully hand painted eggs are typical of many Eastern European ethnic groups and are presented as Easter gifts. Below are examples made by our students.